musings of mine

And i ALWAYS make the WORST spelling mistakes ever while blogging! It’s as if i either don’t know HOW to spell or i’ve never heard of spellcheck. Sigh. And i plan to major in English.

I doubt there’s ever been a bigger klutz than me. It’s 12.14am and i being the genius that i am attempted to open my curtain in the dark. Having successfully done that, i bend my head only to hit my lip on the bed head. I cut my lip in three places and now i have gold fish lips. I look like i’ve been in a fight, EEk. And i’m SUCH a girl. I cried like a baby soon afterwards. Now i’m sitting her nursing my swollen lower lip with ice.

Within the past month i have successfully used wrong contact lens solution, fallen on stage in front of an audience and broken my shoe, stubbed my toe EVERYDAY on my bed (which i’ve had for the past year), dropped all the books in my bag while getting out of my car, run in the rain to park my car only to find there is no where to park my car, hit my head on my car while getting out of it, found a thalembuwa on my lap and put it out using my finger and then itched away.. are just at the top of the list. Sigh. I will never mature. I will never grow up. God forbid anyone should ever look upto me! God bless the poor soul that decides to make me his wife..hahaha! Atleast i see the humor in all this…

My theatre experiances have been limited. I’ve been told i can act. I being the person that i am, keep amounting that to sheer good luck, good direction and hard work. I love the theatre. I hope one day to write and direct a play of my own…one day.

 Last June i was dragged by my cousin to the Workshop Players audition of Blood Brothers. Ever since watching ‘West Side Story’ by Workshop, I’d always wanted to be a part of it..but somehow never got the opportunity to. Jerome cast me into the role of Mrs. Lyons. I read the script and thought to myself, "Jesus, this woman’s a bitch!." Then the doubting Shannon within raised her head. How was I EVER going to become this woman!?! I mean, i’d never been a villain. I was always the victim. She who the audience’s heart went out to. Never she who the audience hated with a passion! Sigh. I’m not ashamed to admit i tried very hard. I adopted what is now known as my ‘psycho face.’ I watched Anushka, with whom i shared the role, and i humbly acknowledged i couldn’t imitate her. I needed a new strategy. My portrayal of Mrs. Lyons is, if anyone’s noticed, that of an insecure woman. A woman who’s trying very hard to please her husband despite her inability to produce him with a child. Mrs. Johnstone provides her with the solution and also is the biggest obstacle. Mrs. Lyons’ mind unravels bringing out the inner psycho bitch

 I’d love to take the praise for my character analysis, but i can’t. It was a team effort, totally.

I don’t know how to say this without sounding…i don’t know..pretentious (?) but the WSP are some of the most dedicated team players i have ever met. They’re not only talented, but they are also humble. Some more than others. I love the moments before each show where the actors hold hands, pray and then go out there and give it their all. To me that’s the beauty of the theatre; those moments when none of us are on stage. 

My fav. cartoon. Rings so true

I’ve recently realised that most Lankan families are dysfunctional. There are very few that are ‘normal’. But then the definition of ‘normal’ again is subjective. It could be the absence of violence, abuse, adultery..or what not. This dysfunctionalism is evident from the highest rungs of the social ladder all the way down to the bottom. It’s really sad. Maybe it is connected to sex. And Sri Lankans lack of ‘open-ness’ whenever they’re around that topic…like a fellow blogger (i forget who) so aptly pointed out recently. Maybe we’re all sexually frustrated and need to take it out on married women, young boys, six year old school girls, refugees, and unmarried young girls in border villages who obviously must belong to a minority.

My family has it’s moments of dysfunctionality. Sometimes it’s soo fricking bad that you’re like. "Shit! I’m related to these people! I hope it’s not fucking hereditary!!". Give it a couple of days and everything’s swept under the rug, and again you’re like, "Wait! What happened?! I thought there was going to be some serious drama here!". I guess in a way God decided, in the begining, that dysfunctionalism and Sri Lankans go so well together cos it’s an inherited talent we all posess; the abiity to pretend that there’s nothing wrong.

So we trudge along. We abuse..we beat..we cheat..we abandon. And it passes onto our kids and there evolves a whole new chapter of dysfunctionality. And so they say the story goes.  

Forgive me for i have not blogged in aages. Ever since i got back i’ve been prey to ALL the ailments Colombo has to offer. Right now i can’t sleep cos i’m sick..stomach flu..flu..the works!

 I’m sick, I’m annoyed and i wish i was back in SFO. Amazing how 3 amazing weeks can leave you still wanting more, even a month after i’ve been back. Well it’s either that, or i’m really pathetic. Good news is he’ll be back in 18 days. Bad news is he’s going back. Sigh. I’m going back to ‘trying to sleep’ mode.

There was one thing I noticed while driving through the streets of San Francisco and while flying over London; The Uniformity. Of everything. I guess after being used to crooked street lights and the well ‘less than perfect’ world of Colombo and the rest of Lanka, this was a welcome change. It was however quite boring after a while. The same design: from the placing of the window to the placement of the chimneys. I suppose uniformity is a key element in the process of development and it’s a definitely a step Sri Lanka has yet to climb. Without sounding like a cynical bitch, I think I can say that Lanka’s still in one of the first few rungs on the ladder of development.

In San Fran, I happened to be fortunate enough to be enlightened by the ideas of a Mr. Dias. This gentleman had a systematic ‘process’ and an eventual ‘solution’ to the current ethnic crisis Mother Lanka’s facing at the moment. Here I found seeds of ideas I was surprised no one had happened to come across before. The simplicity of the idea was what I found amazing. It was one of those plans that focused on simple education, and not complete annihilation. I mean let’s face it, for lack of a better idea, most of us are now like ‘Ya what the heck, let’s just get rid of the damn LTTE….smoke ‘em outta there if we must…damn karadare this war is.’ It’s either that mentality or the ‘I don’t give a damn about what happens…I’m desensitized’ or ‘I’m leaving this country …so it doesn’t really affect me anyway.’ Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but most of the people I’ve met share similar mentalities. People who really give a damn either forget that they give a damn (cos no one else gives a damn) or, they’re sucked into the vicious cycle of power and corruption which is soo much more comfortable than fighting the authority.

Excuse me for starting at one point and then deviating. I’m after an 11 hour flight and I’ve been in transit for a good 4 hours as well. Most of these ideas are completely random and sometimes will fail to make sense.

To be continued….. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDCHb5Nl_bE&mode=user&search=

i honestly thought while i was getting ready to watch The Phantom at wendy’s hostel, that i’d fall asleep during the play! i was SOO tired and sleepy..a result of sitting in between bird woman and mr. fart-and-burp-and-make-clicking-noises-all-the-time on my flight to Singapore.

anyway got to the Esplanade. and the set itself before the play just blew my mind. the intricate details and the chandelier. When it started..wow! the singing, the dancing, it was all amazing. i’m a huge theatre buff and i love anything to do with the theatre..but this blew me off. the costumes!!! my limited knowledge of ballet and singing proved that pirouetting like that AND pitching was…damn hard! but they did it. there were no mishaps..obviously i mean the theatre company were hardly amatuers; the acress playing Christine had played the role on two world tours previously. 

the phantom on the other hand…again let me repeat..wow! Just after Raoul and Christie sing ‘all i ask of you’ his completion of that song as he’s suspended from the ceiling on this…i dunno gargoyle type thing..is just amazing.  

Anyway my knowledge of the technical aspect of the theatre is very limited..but performance-wise..it was Brad Little as the Phantom that completely blew my mind. i felt his pain..his anguish…his hold over Christine whenever he sang to her, calling himself her Angel of Music.  Personally i felt that the role of Christine could’ve been played by an actress who was a little younger…however her performance too was amazing. all in all i thoroughly enjoyed my evening! (i realize i use the word ‘amazing’ too many times na?)

my only regret was the realization that inspite of sri lankans having the talent to pull off something of this magnitude…it will be something won’t materialize…not anytime soon anyway. Sri Lankan directors still must learn the talent of focusing..on every single aspect of the theatre. Not only the props or costume or effect or smoke…